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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Oracle who wrote (6282)	8/4/1998 10:58:00 AM
From: Kevmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

What the hell is going on here? $114 1/2???? I just don't understand how this stock could be dropping. 1. The auction was beyond expectations. 2. The sum of the parts ect... should be reflecting some appreciation. 3. The potential growth/need in phone service, coupled with better management and capital to invest in the substructure. These, along with many other positives, should have propelled this stock up. But what has happened?..... TBR is back to the levels it was at just prior to the auction. And it is about to break down under it's 200 DMA. Could somebody PLEASE explain this apparent weakness.. I just can not figure out why TBR has lost so much ground, and appears to be slipping further. Why are bargain hunters not picking this thing up?? Frustrated & Confused. Kev

To: Oracle who wrote (6282)	8/4/1998 12:12:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

This market looks preeeety bad. Just broke 8650...may be heading for 8600. If we were to break 8600, could be pretty bloody. TBR unbelieveable. If CSCO or AOL were to disappoint tonight, watch out below. OTOH, this may be somekind of selling climax. Lets hope so. sf

To: Oracle who wrote (6282)	8/4/1998 12:14:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Brazil's Bovespa drops 3.0 pct on Wall St slide Reuters, Tuesday, August 04, 1998 at 12:06 SAO PAULO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Sao Paulo stock exchange's key Bovespa (INDEX:$BVSP.X) index dropped 3.0 percent to 10,095 points in midday trade as share prices accompanied a slide in the Dow Jones index, brokers said. "The market opened strongly, but was taken by panic after prices fell in New York," one local trader said. Telecom shares led decliners, with Telesp's preferred (SAO:TLSP4) plunging 5.71 percent at 264 reais. Preferred shares in Telebras (SAO:TELB4) tumbled 3.31 percent at 131.50 reais, while Telerj (SAO:TERJ4) fell 3.14 percent to 77 reais. newsroom@reuters.com)) Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Oracle who wrote (6282)	8/4/1998 12:15:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Portugal Telecom To Sell Assets To Pay For Big Brazilian Purchases Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, August 04, 1998 at 11:38 LISBON -(Dow Jones)- Portugal Telecom SA, considered one of the big winners in last week's auction of Brazil's state-owned telecommunications company, said it will have to accelerate the sale of some assets to raise cash to support its Brazilian investments. Chief Executive Francisco Murteira Nabo Tuesday said the company is preparing to sell some 25% to 30% of PT's (PT) television operator TV Cabo later this year or in early 1999. The company also is considering, along with its partner Telefonica SA (TEF) of Spain, selling part of its stake in Cia. Riograndense Telecomunicacoes, another Brazilian company purchased in June. PT last month successfully bid $3.1 billion for Brazilian cellular operator Telesp Cellular. Analysts said PT's involvement in the massive privatization of Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras, or Telebras, of which Telesp was a part, gives it a solid platform for future growth in Latin America. PT also has partnered with Telefonica, which won the fixed-line Telesp unit of Telebras, and with MCI Communications Corp., which took long-distance operator Embratel. But Nabo stressed the company isn't planning to change its dividend payout policy or raise capital through a rights issue to help pay for the purchase of Telesp Cellular. "We are a company with low debt in comparison with other telecommunications companies," Nabo said. "We are seeking sustainable financial solutions to financing the Telesp purchase and our other acquisitions in Brazil." However, he said, acquisitions would cause a short-term drag on PT's profitability, but stressed the Portuguese company had "bought its future" by investing so heavily in Brazil. Indeed, PT coughed up a hefty 226% premium for one of the biggest prizes of the auction. The company said it hopes to spread the charges of the acquisition out over 30 years. Nabo said the goal is to "rapidly transform Telesp," improving service and reducing the long waiting list for cellular phones. Brazilians wanting a phone now wait an average of a year and a half. Nabo said PT plans to invest $1.2 billion over the next two years to achieve its targets. Brazil has enormous potential. Just one in 10 Brazilians has a phone line, compared with over six in 10 in the U.S. Demand is so pent-up that some 4.5 million people are waiting for a cellular phone in the state of Sao Paulo alone. Those who have them spend twice as much yakking away each month as Americans. "This is a challenge that will completely change PT," Nabo said. "We have a new focus, even though our priority remains domestic, because our international operations will have enormous weight." At the same time, PT's CEO said the company would curb its investments in other markets. Its recent joint venture with Telefonica to operate in markets outside the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking regions would now focus mainly on management, adding combined know-how to the Brazilian and other Latin American operations. PT will take over active management of Telesp Cellular as of Aug. 10 under the direction of newly appointed CEO Romao Mateus, Nabo said. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: Oracle who wrote (6282)	8/4/1998 12:20:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Portugal Telecom's New Brazil Ops To Be Profit Motor Dow Jones Newswires LISBON -- Portugal Telecom SA's (PT) newly acquired Brazilian operations will be a medium-term profit motor, the company said Monday, reacting to investor worries about the burden of the purchases on the bottom line. "The acquisition of a controlling stake in Telesp Celular and of a minority stake in Telesp Fixa perfectly matches PT's pre-defined strategy of investment in highly attractive markets where we have competitive advantages," PT Chairman Francisco Murteira Nabo said in a statement. "They will constitute a powerful growth engine that in the medium-term will boost group revenues and results to levels that would not be achievable in a mature and fully liberalized European market like Portugal." PT's shares were off 450 escudos (PTE) ($1=PTE182.58), or 4.3%, to PTE9,999 on volume of 586,237 shares late in Monday's session, with brokers reporting that uncertainty about the price PT paid for its Brazilian acquisitions and its effect on profits were sparking the sell-off. PT said it is "better prepared than anyone else" to benefit from Brazil's growth potential, noting its cultural links to the former colony, its long-term alliance with Telebras SA (TBR) and its "successful track record of building a market leader position in a competitive market." Last week, PT paid $3.01 billion for control of Telesp Celular, Telebras' cellular provider for the Sao Paulo state, and alongside Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF), took a 23% stake in Telesp Fixa, the same region's fixed-line provider. PT said it is already in "advanced negotiations" to reduce its Telesp Celular stake to 51% by incorporating strategic partners. Telefonica, it said, has agreed to take up a 35.8% stake, and Brazilian groups are expected to purchase the remainder. On the fixed line side, PT said the link to Telefonica "will allow us to benefit from the proved experience of Telefonica in successful turnarounds of acquired companies in Latin America." It will also gain from "synergy, both in terms of revenues ... and costs, through shared support areas, joint purchasing, and optimization of capital expenditure, resulting from controlling positions in both the fixed and mobile operators." -By Erik T. Burns; 351-1-319-1863; eburns@ap.org